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tv   U.S. Senate  CSPAN  March 19, 2013 9:00am-12:00pm EDT

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god, these liberties come from god, and they set about with his hand shaping the united states of america in that vision and in that image. and we know what the pillars of american exceptionalism are. many of them are in the bill of rights. freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, the right to keep and bear arms -- [cheers and applause] i can't think of any of these at point that aren't under assault by a bunch of leftists that want to deconstruct america. and that does offend me. and so i think it's our job to step up and defend our values and defend the full spectrum of constitutional conservativism. i'll stand there with all of the people that want to rebrand the republican party to work on the economic side of this agenda, but i invite all of them to cover -- come over with all of us to work together on the full spectrum of constitutional conservativism including life and marriage and the rule of law. [applause]
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and on the life question, it's really pretty simple. i went through the toughest election of my life last fall. i had tracking cameras around me from st. patrick's day until november 6th, one to three cameras always focused on me trying to get a second or a minute that they could run against me in an ad. they didn't get a single second that they could run against me, not one second, by the way. [applause] but they're in the business of trying to undermine and weaken us, and i didn't back up on any principle. we debated the issue of life, and i said my opponent, my leftist opponent cannot answer two questions on life. is human life sacred in all of its forms? yes, it is. and at what moment does life begin? the instant of conception. and the people on the other side of this question dare not answer either one of those questions. they know they lose the debate. i stood on life, and i stood on
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marriage -- [applause] and the thing that a bunch of people that have been backing away from these challenges don't seem to realize that i'm still standing. [applause] now, why is that? i didn't run a campaign on jobs and the economy, jobbing and the economy, jobs and the economy and beat that drum until i beat people into sleep. that's part of it, all right, but all of the rest of this has to be added together, or we can never reconstruct this country. we will not get the pillars of american exceptionalism back together. [applause] unless we have the full spectrum. if we can restore our families and strengthen our faith and protect innocent, unborn human life instead of assaulting it with a half a billion dollars appropriated to planned parenthood in a single year. that's gotta go. obamacare has got to go. [cheers and applause]
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we can't let up on obamacare and believe that somehow we're going to capitulate to that side because the roads are vitality, and it is an unconstitutional taking of god-given american liberty, and it's got to go. [cheers and applause] ronald reagan omelet me down a couple -- only let me down a couple of times in eight years. one of those was 1986, and i still had the dent after i heard on the news he had signed the amnesty act of 1986. but it was on the promise that there would be law enforcement, and we would restore the rule of law and a million people would be legalized. but then from there on forward the law would be enforced. well, i made sure i kept my records right waiting for the ins to show up at my office, but i never saw them. neither did thousands of businesses. but the enforcement in re began era was greater than the
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enforcement in any succeeding administration, and now the law is so eroded, i sat in a hearing just a couple of days ago and heard la raza say, well, we want to provide comprehensive immigration reform, and after we restore the rule of law -- la raza's telling us they're restoring the rule of law by waiving it? they've eroded the rule of law. and republicans seem to forget of the 11 or 12 million that they say are here -- and i think it's 20 -- two out of every three are democrats, and democrats know that. this is a political agenda on the part of the democrats, and the president came to us and said i'm trying to help you republicans. i'm not buying it. i remember 1986. i know the rule of law's a more important pillar of american exceptionalism than can afford to be sacrificed. i know that ronald reagan said to us the shining city on the hill, and he never told us that was our destiny or destination,
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he said that's who we are. well, there is a destiny and destination for us. it's even greater than the shining city on the hill. if we're going to build it, it's on a higher altitude and all the pillars of american exceptionalism, not the politically expedient ones, all of them. [applause] so that's what i challenge all of you. join me in restoring the pillars of american exceptionalism. and of those who think that the kind and gentle language of self-deportation was what cost the presidency, i would suggest to the leftists that have deconstructed the rule of law america's pillars of american exceptionalism, cities like detroit and chicago, either go live in those enclaves that you constructed or you go ahead and self-report. of we've got a country to be built together! [cheers and applause] thank you. thanks so much. [applause] ♪ ♪
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[applause] >> so being in a classroom environment, i usually get in a lot of debates with professors and teachers, so i'm going to give everybody a tip on how to debate a liberal for the upcoming year. if they ever say liberalism works, just say look at illinois. i'm ooh from illinois, and if you want to see liberal policies at work, come to illinois. we have about $100 billion in unfunded pensions, our last four governors in jail, it's one of the most corrupt governments not just in the country -- time magazine rated the most corrupt goth -- governments in the world. number one was venezuela, number two was north korea, number three was illinois. [laughter] now, illinois' really bad, but if i take a drive about an hour and a half north on i-94, i start to get a smile on my face, and i pass into the dairy state. [cheers and applause]
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i get a smile because i know i'm in a state that has a leader. a state that has a leader that stood up to special interests, that looked the unions in the eye and made reforms that were not really popular at the time but are now proven effective. conservatives across the country could look to the governor of wisconsin as a model that you could be courageous, be called out, go to a recall and win with more votes than you did the last time. [cheers and applause] as a student, we need more leaders like scott walker. and as conservatives, we need to promote people like scott walker to run for office and encourage them to continue. ladies and gentlemen, i am honored to introduce governor scott walker. get on your feet, thank you so much. [cheers and applause]
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♪ ♪ >> morning. [applause] thank you, good morning. good morning. >> morning! >> thank you all for coming out and thank you for your support. so many of you helped us out along the way with your calls, your coming to wisconsin to help knock on doors, your financial support, but most of all thank you to so many of you for your prayers for to net, i and our family. we appreciate it from the bottom of our heart. [applause] we should all remember, we should all remember that the federal government did not create the states, the statements created the federal -- the states created the federal government. [applause] these were the words of president ronald reagan in his first inaugural address. many others have been quoted,
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but as a governor, i love those words. i love those words right now more than ever because they should remind us all across america that real reform doesn't happen in our nation's capital, it happens in our statehouses all across this great country. [applause] i mean, think about it. back in the 1990s in my state with tommy thompson or across the lake with john endingler, welfare reform happened in the states. newt gingrich finally got bill clinton to sign it into law a little bit later. you go all the way back to the early 970s when ronald reagan wasn't the president, but the governor of california, and tax reform happened in that state. and it wasn't until later, ironically back in california, when ronald reagan as the president signed into raw the economic recovery -- into law the economic recovery act. real reform happened in the states. as was mentioned yesterday, there are now in america some 30 states that have republican governors and nearly as many that have republican legislatures. [applause]
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and so that's the good news. the good news is we have success, and it's happening in our states, and we can learn from that to tell our friends and our colleagues in washington how to move forward. because, you see, in the states to be successful we have to be optimistic. we have to be relevant. and most importantly, we have to be courageous. let me talk to you a little bit about each of those three things. you see, when it talks about being inspirational and optimistics, one of the things that's interesting is when i first ran for governor -- i have to say first because who would have thought i'd have to get elected twice in the same term -- [laughter] but in 2010 when i was first running for governor, i went around the state and conducted a job interview. i was interviewing with the people of my state to be their ceo. and i told them about the economic and fiscal crisis our state faced, and then i laid out a clear plan of what i would do to fix it. now, it was important to do. you see, at the time wisconsin under my predecessor where the
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governor and legislature were all democrats in control had gone through a state where wisconsin had faced a multibillion dollar budget deficit, we were having double-digit tax increases, and we saw some of the record job loss that we've seen in the past. so what did we do? we came in and took that deficit, $3.6 billion, and today it's nearly half a billion dollar surplus. we took up -- [applause] we took a state where taxes had gone up, and we not only lowered the overall tax burden for the first time in years, property taxes on a median value home had gone town in each of the last two years. [applause] and when it comes, and when it comes to jobs under my predecessor's term, wisconsin had lost 133,000 jobs, and back in 2010 a survey showed just 10% of our employers thought we were headed in the right direction. today we're gaining jobs and 93% of our employers say wisconsin
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is heading in the right direction. we can lead with an optimistic message. [applause] simply put, we showed in our election that when people realized the debate was between who do you want in charge, the big government special interests n this case the employee unions, or do you want the hard working taxpayers? the hard working taxpayers win out, and they'll win out over and over and over again, and in america we need to show an optimistic message that says we're not standing with the big government special interests, we're standing with the hard working taxpayers, and that's a message that can resonate all across this country. [applause] now, in addition to being optimistic, we need to be rell virginia what do i mean by that? all too often in politics we talk in phrases like sequesters and debt limits and fiscal cliffs. i don't know about all of you, but the people i talk to in wisconsin, they talk to me about things like is my neighbor down
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the block going to be able to find a job? is my son or daughter who's a year out from graduating from college going to be able to find a job in our state, in our community and stay here? are my grandkids going to be able to afford the debt being passed on to them by our federal government? and for many, will my schools perform to the ability that my kids can get a great education? it's one of the thing that is' important to be relevant. you see, a couple years ago before i was governor there was a young woman named miss sampson in wisconsin in a community called milwaukee where the milwaukee public schools are some of the most challenged in the country. and this young woman was a first-year teacher who was named the outstanding teacher of the year. she got notice about that, and about a week, week and a half later she got a second notice. do you think what that was? she'd been laid off. you see, under my predecessor, they cut funding for education, but they didn't give them anything in return to make up
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for them, so what happened? when you have less money in those situations even though she was named one of the best teachers in the state in her profession, what happened to her? she was one of the first to be laid off. why? because under the old system of collective bargaining, one of the last hired is the first fired. one of the great things you may not know about in our reforms was we not only changed collective bargaining to get reasonable health care contributions, we changed collective bargaining in our state so there's no longer seniority or tenure. we can hire and fire based on merit, we can pay based on performance, we can put the best and the brightest in our classrooms, and we can pay them to stay there! [cheers and applause] we're the ones who care about education. we're the ones who want our children to go forward. [applause] you see, that's about being relevant, about being relevant. and sometimes we concede the argument to the other side. we're the ones who care about fixing things. we're the ones who actually care about putting more money in the
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classroom. not only did we change seniority and tenure, we changed things so that our schools could bid out their health insurance, that's money that goes right back into the classroom. in america we need to talk about things that are relevant to where people are, and then we need to provide solutions to do that. so we need to be optimistic, and we need to be relevant, but most importantly, we need to be courageous. hopefully, we showed a little of how to do that when it came not just to budgetary reform and even education reform, but one of the things i hope to tackle in the coming year in our state that hopefully encourage others to do in states across america and maybe encourage a few more in our nation's capital to do, and that's entitlement reform. [applause] or as i like to more appropriately call can it, moving people from government dependence to true independence. [applause] you see, we don't need to concede that argument. when you think about that, what is more important? it's part of the reason why when
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we made our decision about medicaid not to take the medicaid expansion, we didn't do it in a vacuum. because in my state i said i want to reduce the number of people who aren't insured, but also on medicaid. i want more people in the market because they have jobs and opportunity, because that means true freedom and prosperity, not more government dependence. [applause] we didn't just coit with medicaid, we've done it with unemployment benefits, we require people to go out and look for work more than they have in the past, but probably one of the best examples is something we've just initiated. you see, in wisconsin we were one of the 46 states up until last year that had a waiver from the federal government for able-bodied adults to not have a requirement to work or be involve inside employment training. think about that. nearly every state in america people are getting food stamps who are able-bodied citizens. not elderly, without children.
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able-bodied adults who don't have to be required to either look for work or be in a position where they're getting trained to be prepared for work. now, i changed all that, and i said if you're in wisconsin and you're able--bodied, there's about 75,000 people in this category, if you want to get food stamps, you either have to work or be signed up for employment training so you can get a job when a job becomes available. [applause] now, you can only imagine what the left said about that. they said, well, the governor hates poor people. the governor hates poor people. he's making it harder to get government benefits. i said, no, i love the people of my state. in fact, i love them so much i don't want them to be permanently dependent on the government. i don't want to make it harder to find -- [applause] i don't want to make it harder to get government assistance. what i want is to make it easier the to get a job. that's what this is all about. [applause]
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and let me give you a great example why that's so important. you know, a lot of times as conservatives we think with our heads, but we forget to talk with our heart. let me give you a story that tells you both are so important. young woman named elizabeth last year in our state, tough time, single mom signed up in milwaukee for food stamps. at the time before we had changed our waiver process, it was still a voluntary program to sign up for employee training s. so elizabeth, to her credit, said i don't have to, but i'm going to take advantage of this employment training. she did so well on that, they took her to the next step and got her the training she needed to study as a certified nursing assistant. last month when i announced this initiative to require people who are able-bodied to work in the state, i'd canned that elizabeth be a part of that ceremony so i could introduce her and point out to her in the gallery like the president and other governors do in their addresses. but you know what? i couldn't do that. you know why? elizabeth was working that day
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as a certified nursing assistant, and that night she had gone back to take training to be a registered nurse because she understood the dignity of work. [cheers and applause] you see, you see, as conservatives we shouldn't take a backseat to anybody. we have a moral cause. it's not just about balancing budgets, it's not just about getting the economy going again. what we stand for is not about taking things away from people. that's the other side. you know, this president, his allies measure success in government by how many people are dependent on the government. we, we measure success in government by just the opposite, by how many people are no longer dependent on the government not because we've kicked them into the street, not because we pushed them out to the curb, because we understand in this country that the true way to live the american dream is not to dream big about being dependent on government, it's about the power of people to
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control their own destiny through the benefits of a job in the private sector that brings true freedom and prosperity. [cheers and applause] you see, in america, america people don't grow up dreaming they're going to be dependent on the government. in america people don't come to this country as immigrants because someday they want to become dependent on the government. in america they live the american dream where if you work hard and you get a good education and can you pass it on to future generations, they can live the life of true freedom and prosperity that comes through true independence and not dependence on the government. it is precisely why in america we take a day off and celebrate the fourth of july and not the 15th of april. [cheers and applause] so don't back down. don't take your foot off the gas.
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now's the time to push forward and tell all of america, one state after another, until we take our message to washington that true reform comes with an optimistic and a relevant message but most importantly, a courageous message that says in america we believe in the people and not in the government! thank you and god bless you. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> my grandfather grew up in chicago, and he died in 1976. i never had a chance to meet him. but since 1980 he has been voting democrat in chicago. [laughter] the point of that story is, don't let somebody else vote for you in the straw poll.
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you should go vote for yourself. seriously, go out and vote in the straw poll. it's important that our voice is heard. the results of the straw poll always make national headlines. if you haven't voted, make sure you go out. it takes no more than 7-10 minutes. what's going on in our country is scary. i got a text message the other day from a kid in texas, and he showed me a picture of a math problem, and they were learning the distribution property which is a basic mathematical principle. and on the top of it, it said redistribute the wealth as a way to teach this mathematical principle. taken back. i said this is in our math classes? in my public high school outside of chicago, paul krugman wrote our economics textbook. he writes a majority of the economics textbooks in this country. so it's so important that we reach out to our younger audiences and fight back against this progressive aggression into our schools which makes me so excited to introduce our next speaker. calista gingrich is writing children's books that teach
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american values, capitalism and history the right way, not the liberal, doctored way. it's so important that we reach out to our young people using even chored illustrations. if they can't read, read to them. because if we don't teach them history, the liberals will for us, and do you want the liberals teaching your children history? >> no! >> so, ladies and gentlemen, i'm honored to introduce calista gingrich. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> thank you. thank you, charlie, and thank you for that warm welcome. it's great to be here at the 40th annual cpac conference. ever since the first conference in 1973, cpac has been a gathering of ideas, activists, candidates and leaders. this year is bigger, more
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energetic and wider ranging than ever. fact that there are 23 -- the fact that there are 23 names in the presidential straw poll tells us how dynamic and wide open the current situation is. one year ago many of us thought that president obama would lose, that the republicans would win the senate and conservatives would be many the middle of big changes for america. for most of us, election night was a very sobering experience. now we are in the middle of a great discussion about the future of conservativism, the future of the republican party and most importantly, the future of america. newt and i and the entire team at gingrich productions are dedicated to fighting for the ideas that have made america
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great. we are delighted to have three of our documentary films produced in partnership with citizens united this weekend. in fact, newt and i will be introducing "america at risk" later this afternoon. we are very proud of our association with our producer, david bossy, and our writer and director, kevin knoblach. since the campaign newt and i have been involved in several projects that celebrate the greatness of america. we are currently working on a new documentary entitled "god loves you: the life of billy graham." focusing on the life and legacy of one of the most influential religious leaders in our nation's history. [applause] newt and i are both writing books as well.
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as some of you know, i write children's history books featuring a time-traveling pachyderm named ellis the elephant who, rumor has it, will be here later this morning. i'd like to thank all of you who have helped me share our american history through these books. it's gratifying to see so many families enjoy them. ellis will be back in october as he discovers the american revolution in yankee doodle dandy. newt is also working on a new book about the pioneers of the future who improve our lives and the prisoners of the past who seem to dominate washington. he is also developing online courses at newt university for every american who wants a freer, safer and more prosperous future. please join me in welcoming former speaker of the house and my husband, newt gingrich.
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[applause] ♪ ♪ >> thank you, all of you who have come out already on a saturday morning after a very big and important banquet last night, and thank you, calista, for introducing me, and i want to thank dave bossy who's been a good friend and with whose help we're here or showing several films. hasn't this been a remarkable cpac so far? i think the biggest ever. [applause] want to congratulate al and the team at cpac who put this together. and you just heard from an example of why i'm optimistic about the future. scott walker is a great governor introducing great ideas -- [applause]
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all across america governors are doing the innovative, new, solution-oriented things which barack obama so -- is opposing in washington, d.c., and the contrasts couldn't be more vivid. but i came this morning because i need your help, i think the country needs your help, the republican party and the conservative movement need your help. we're in a 50-year struggle for the conservative movement in the republican party. let me be clear, the republican establishment is just plain wrong about how to approach its politics. [applause] the republican consulting class is just plain wrong about how to approach the politics. people who have been here like dave bossy, craig shirley, the work that alex is doing on concept of the new republic, all of these are beginning to raise the right kind of questions. monday the republican national
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committee will produce a report on the initial changes, and i commend chairman reince priebus for starting that process. that report will be an important first step. but i want to emphasize it's a first step. the changes we need are vastly bigger and vastly deeper. now, the first republican president posed the challenge for all of us. in december 1862 abraham lincoln wrote the following to the congress: can we do better? the dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. the occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. as our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. we must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save the country. we're in the same place again. we have to disenthrall ourselves of the establishments anti-idea
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approach. we must disenthrall ourselves from an accountant green eyeshades approach of thinking about budgets, from a consultant culture which believes politics can be reduced to raising money to run ads to attack somebody. now, you can hear a false attack that we don't need new ideas. let me draw a distinction. we don't need new principles, but we need lots of ideas about how to implement those principles in the 21st century. [applause] ..
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and something invented in the late 19th century. i want to show you how big a difference, and why it relates to the politics of 2013. if we were still in age of the candle, with barack obama in the modern left, first of all we would have studies of how many poor people couldn't afford candles. [laughter] then we would have a focus on creating a candle redistribution law. then we would have a candlemaking union asking for a law to block the development of the electric light. then we would have left wing activist groups a sense of the cisco argued that electric lights will invade the environment and will have at least three lawyers running things that say, you can be killed by electricity if somebody tries to put electricity in your house. call us and we will sue them for
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you. now, the whole of washington in both parties are prisoners of the past. they are trapped into the ideas, the technology, a mindset. they fight over how to redistribute on the right and redistribute by having bigger bureaucracy. but there are -- they are trapped in age of candles. the first african electric lights about 1800. on october 22, 1879, thomas edison's laboratory at the first successful electric light. ithis was 79 years of hard work. and it lasted 13 and a half hours. within a few months, edison had hit upon using carbonized bamboo. and the first practical light using carbonized bamboo lasted 1200 hours. here's what edison said. this is the spirit we launched, -- lost, which seemed determined
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to avoid thinking about, edison said, quote, we will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles. [applause] you know, i want to tell you, i've been trying for two and a half years to get the house republicans to understand the they control every committee and subcommittee in the house. they could be having a hearing every week on the future in every single committee and subcommittee. they could be contrasting the various and sundry bureaucratic candles that are trapped in a world of light with all the breakthroughs of new science and technology. and it is virtually impossible to get people in washington, d.c. to actually learn how to think about a new world. and i commend all of you -- [applause] -- to go to gingrich productions.com. you'll see a newsletter entitled highness of the future versus prisoners of the past. it captures exactly where we
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are. we stand today on the edge of a great future, but washington is in both parties. now, i want to ask in part to help us find the pioneers of the future. when you see new ideas, new approaches, new developments, let us know at gingrich production. will try to develop a new university. courses can we love you to either take a course or offer a course or create a workshop. that starts with what reince priebus is doing it is deeper and longer and broader and includes public policy as well as techniques and technology. but we need your help. this is literally a 50 year struggle. october 2719 safety for ronald reagan, national television, you and i are told increasingly we have to choose between a left and a right. well, i would like to just there is no such thing as a left or a right. this is reagan. there's only an up or down. up, man's old dream, the
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ultimate individual freedom, consistent with law and order, or down to totalitarianism. and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course. that's 1964. he says, this is the issue of this election. whether we believe and a capacity for self-governance or whether we abandon the american revolution and contrast a little intellectual elite in a far distant capital can plan our lives. for us, better than we can plan them ourselves. the best single book on moving out of bureaucracy into a to tally and society were you this as it are empowered to solve your own problems, this does a lot about where we are in the republican party. the best single book is the former mayor of san francisco, lieutenant governor of california, it's called citizen bill, and every single
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conservative in this country should read it because it is a practical textbook on all the opportunities in the information age to get rid of government and replace it with citizen activism exactly in the tocqueville the model. but it embraces the new world and the pioneers were great future that is entrapped in the past. reagan came to cpac march 1, 1975, probably most important cpac speech in his. he said quote our people look for a course to believ believe . a new and revitalized party raising a boehner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand. i believe that totally. i'm arguing that part of that clearly has to be a better future for all americans with new ideas and new solutions to take the principles of our constitution unemployment rate us as a people to great a 21st century that is extraordinary. [applause] i would encourage everybody public and in every conservative to read to assess but irving
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kristol in 1976, in "the wall street journal." in january 1976 irving kristol wrote the stupid party. i'm not sure that bobby jindal was quoting him, but it is sobering. i ran for congress the second time in 1976. i lost twice and found one -- limited, it is sobering to me to be standing here as a senior member of this party telling you, from 1976-2013, we have been the predominantly of his party which is learned nothing and is as mired in the past and is mired in stupidity as the one in 1976. [cheers and applause] i would urge every republican to recruit does the stupid party from kenya and 76, and then once the republican future in may of 76 and to take seriously we are not in the business just a balancing the budget. we're in the business of reshaping the budget, to
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liberate the american people and create a new and a better future in which a balanced budget with a smaller government is more effective and delivers things better to give people better lives, and that's much more than fight over numbers but it's a fight over value. [applause] governor bobby jindal said in january at the republican national committee, quote, we must not being the stupid party. way to stop dumbing down our ideaideas and stop producing everything the mindless slogans and taglines for \30{l1}s{l0}\'30{l1}s{l0}-second and it was going to provide details in describing our views, and i commend the governors because they're living it out every day. they are doing it. sender rand paul said right at cpac the gop of all has grown stale and moscow. jeb bush last night and again if you haven't read it, jeb bush in "the wall street journal," began to offer a dramatic vision of a better, more dynamic, more inclusive republican party that doesn't act in at th the age ofa
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lightbulb, that doesn't stand a pioneer of the future and that does understand there is no red and there is no blue. there are 311 million americans who deserve a party that wants everyone of them have a dramatically better future. that ought to be the republican party. [applause] >> we are not the anti-obama movement. we are for the american future with greater safety, freedom and prosperity for all. we are for empowering individuals, not empowering bureaucrats. i think there are dozens, and you can see in the as ever in a newsletter two weeks ago on pioneers of the future versus prisoners of the past, there are dozens of new areas we are about to break and we about to be dramatically better opportunity, and the city and both parties is literally blind to the great potential of this country. but i just want to say one thing and closing. and supposed to matter. we need your help. we need your help, new university, going to sign up
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we'll start with a course next week on driverless cars. and all the breakthroughs that are coming into one area but will have opportunities of the next few months both on lessons to learn as republicans and on what's going on. i want to close with one point about principles. i do believe that we ought to focus on the right to rise because we want every american to have a better future. but i also believe we should unflinchingly stand for the right to life, because that's the predicate to the right to rise. [applause] i am very excited to watch pope francis, who i believe is going to challenge all of us. he is going to challenge -- [applause] is going to challenge the left on social policy, it is going to challenge the right on thinking about the poor. and i think that's good for all of us. i think we need to decide if we want people of the right to left, who want to figure out help them how to have a good life. i think we are party that is
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both a right to life and the right to a good life, we will be inevitably the majority party in the united states. thank you, good luck and god bless you. ♪ ♪ >> about two months ago our organization, turning point u.s.a., hired a lot of the -- combined a lot of cba of that and we figured out how much each high school graduate host of the federal government as their share of the national debt. think in your mind right now what it might be. each high school graduate owes over $823,000 to the federal government. $823,000. that's just not a big number,
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but it's immoral. and to me republicans and democrats have agreed if we continue with razor debt ceiling, that number will go a. but the next speaker has been an outspoken advocate for not raising the debt ceiling without equal cuts and not razor debt ceiling's our children cannot inherit a debt ridden future. the next speaker has been an outspoken advocate for the unilateral repeal of obamacare. >> and more so than anything else, our next speaker is one of the most courageous conservatives in the country your she stands for principle, she will oppose republican just like she will oppose a democrat. she's fighting for the future of this country, so my generation can prosper. ladies and gentlemen police join me in welcoming congresswoman michele bachmann. [cheers and applause] ♪
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♪ >> good morning. good to see you. so glad you're here. good morning. love you, too. good morning. welcome, everyone. thank you for that wonderful, wonderful tea bag or the morning welcome. and you are up and you. welcome to washington, d.c. the epicenter of care and compassion. it is a very unique city, as you know. you have to show a photo id in would have a white house tour. and then they turn around and demand you put away your id before you vote for the man sitting in the white house. it's a city of care and compassion. and someone to ask you a very important question this morning.
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who is it in your life that you can think of that really does care about you? who is that? okay, pretty safe bet, mom and dad. pretty safe bet. your dog, always. you can always count on your dog. you can't -- you can never count on your cat. i would say that's a given. but i want you to know with absolute confidence who it is that does care about you. it is this movement, this represented in this room all across the country. it's a movement that fundamentally cares so deeply and so personally about protecting innocent human life, about great institutions like the family, about a growing economy, about ensuring that we have a strong national defense. we care about these things so much because fundamentally, we
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are the people who truly care about people. we love people in this country. and we want everyone to succeed in this country. [applause] because, you see, not everyone to have the best possible life that they can have. whites, blacks, hispanics, young immigrants, old immigrants, male, female, you name it. everyone. we want everyone to succeed, because we need everyone to succeed in this country. that's our community. because when you get lifted up in our community, then we get lifted up, too. that's how it works about, and that's why we care about you. and that's why we want to make sure that gasoline costs $2 a gallon rather than $4 a gallon. and we can make that a reality. if we try. and that's why we care, that
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your sister and your mother has her second amendment rights so she has the ability to protect yourself against a harmful assailant. it's because we care about her. we are a growing movement of people who care about all americans. now, this is a story out of work together, and it's painful for r me to have to chile. because it's a story about not caring, and it happened last september 11, when one of the most shameful incidents in the history of the american presidency took place. our diplomatic corps in benghazi, libya, was attacked by terrorist. the shooting started at 3:42 p.m., d.c. time. and for the next seven and half hours, americans trapped in benghazi were begging our government for help, but help never came. to former navy seals ran, like
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the american heroes they were, not from the sound of gunfire, but toward the sound of gunfire. tyrone woods, glen doherty -- [applause] tyrone woods, glen doherty were not at the compound when the shooting began, but because they cared, they defied orders. they chose to go to the aid of their brothers. for seven hours these men fought with incredible skill and
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courage. they saved many american lives that night. they fought for their friends. they fought for the college. they fought for our country. and throughout that awful night, they continued to raise the government begging for help, that the government never sent them back and. and that help never came. and the president, you see, was informed of the attack within the very first hour of the attack. and after that call, the president then conversed with his advisers for approximately 30 minutes, we learned in testimony in the senate hearing, and then, inexplicably, the president apparently disappeared. a war was raging in benghazi for hours, and all we know is that our president went awol. while cries from -- [booing] spent while cries some american diplomats and soldiers went unanswered, no one knows yet
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today where the president was. it gives me no pleasure to tell you that the next morning, after our ambassador was dead, after three other americans were killed, our president flew to vegas, a great city, but he flew there for the purpose of meeting with beyoncé and jay-z, to campaign for his reelection. [booing] and with all do respect to our president, how could anyone do something like that, and claim they care? two weeks later, the president went to new york city where he stood behind a podium at the united nations, and he told the delegates, and i quote, the future must not belong to those who insult the prophe prophet o. what the president should have done at the u.n. is slammed his fist on the u.n. podium and say, in no uncertain terms to the delegates, the future does not belong to the lowlife murderers
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who kill innocent americans. [applause] the future belongs to americans who are willing to lay their lies down on the line to protect our right of free speech. and we will never give up that right, just like will never give up our second amendment rights either. [applause] that would have been from our president a message of caring. meanwhile, here at home, our nation is facing what will likely be the biggest nonmilitary crisis in our history. you see, the president has resigned over a war, a war on the young, by putting a
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$6 trillion more in debt. that is a war on the young. that is in caring about you. that is an caring about your future. that isn't caring about america. because we have enemies are conducting deadly cyber attacks against us, and yet, our president continue to borrow billions of dollars from them. that, too, is conducting a war against the young. that isn't caring about us. you see, this is a generational injustice of epic proportion. it is the greatest transfer of wealth in human history. from the young starting to begin their life, to whomever it is that the president wishes to give our money. and how does that help the poor? how does that help the poor? when federal bureaucrats are earning higher salaries and bigger pensions than the average person who doesn't have a government job. because here's the truth of, that the president won't tell you, of every dollar that you
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hold in your hand, 70 sense of that dollar that is supposed to go to the poor doesn't. it actually goes to benefit the bureaucrats in washington, d.c. 70 cents on a dollar. that's how the president's caring works in practice. so $3 in food stamps for the needy, $7 in salary and pension for the bureaucrats were supposed to be taking care of the poor. so with all due respect i ask you, how does this show that our president cares about the poor? now, we all believe that the president and the first family with all seriousness do deserve the best security and the very best protection that we get them. they deserve to live in the white house. they deserve to fly on a private plane. that there's a problem. there is a problem. a new book is out talking about that personal excess of the
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$1.4 billion a year presidency, that we are paying for, and this is a lifestyle that is one of excess. now we find out that there are five chefs on air force one. there are two projectionists who operate the white house movie theater. they regularly sleep at the white house in order to be readily available in case the first family wants a really, really light show. and i don't mean to be petty here, but can't they just push the play button? [applause] we are also the ones who are paying for someone to walk the president's dog, paying for someone to walk the president's dog. now, why are we doing that when we can't even get a disabled veteran into the white house for a white house tour? [applause] that isn't caring.
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i want to show you what is an example of caring. this is a good news story. you see, we cared in the 1950s when we had an absolute epidemic of a polio that was sweeping over our nation. at the time economists told us the annual cost to deal with polio would be something like $100 billion a year. if you translated that into today's dollars, you're talking more like trillions of dollars, trillion dollars but and yet still it didn't happen this. why? because someone cared. because doctor jonas salk teamed up with a private charity. they develop his famous vaccine. they gave that vaccine to president eisenhower. president eisenhower intern cared and he widely distributed that drug all across the united states. that only did that stop polio, it saved our american budget. and today we spend virtually
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nothing on polio. this is a caring story. we have another disease that is hurting us today. it's called alzheimer's. 5 million americans suffer from alzheimer's, and we are learning that that number is expected to triple in the next 40 years. the cost to do with alzheimer's today is about $172 billion. the cost in 40 years, cumulatively to take of alzheimer's is projected to be $20 trillion. that's a figure that's greater than our entire national debt today. and by the way, there is no known treatment for alzheimer's on the horizon. so, all of that 20 trillion will be spent on care because it's a humanitarian necessity. we must take care of people. but a much smarter strategy would be to develop a cure. that's caring.
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scientists tell us that we could have a cure in 10 years for alzheimer's if we only put our mind to it. so why aren't we seeking to cure diseases like alzheimer's or diabetes, juvenile diabetes, heart disease, cancer, parkinson's disease? how did we possibly get to this point of political malpractice? because our government proclaiming to care so much has created a cadre of overzealous regulators, excessive taxation, and greedy litigators. that's not caring. it's time we care. [applause] because, you see, we don't need a big government to develop these cures. what we need is big innovation, big growth, big ideas. that's america.
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we have smart phones today. reach into your pocket. you've got it right there. that smartphone can double as your personal medical buddy. you could have an app on your phone and have a physician and pharmacist as close as your phone. we have supercomputers that have quantum computing. they can data crunch their way to new cures. that's progress. can anyone tell me why it is that the people who call themselves progressives are the last people to want to have progress? they are the people who fear progress. [applause] you see, we are the movement that embraces change. we are the people who care about people. because we care about people. we love people. this debate has to be about more than just cutting budgets versus raising taxes. when we adopt a strategy of caring about people, then we will legalize american energy production. then we will get gas $2 a
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gallon. then we will make sure that your sister has her second amendment rights to keep herself safe from an assailant. and we will make sure that we are innovating and growing our way into the new cures, because we have uniquely american lifeblood as her signature. and what that is, is doing right by the next generation. we all benefited by these medical and innovative technology breakthroughs. they were gifts to us to our generation. and i say to you now that it's our duty to pay it forward for the next generation. it's our duty to grow the scientific progress and innovation that we desperately need. it's our gift and our legacy to the next generation. we do it because we love. we do it because we care. this is who we are. this is our movement.
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the movement of love. the movement of care. we do this because we love each other. and because we love our nation. die bless you, and god bless the united states of america -- god bless you and god bless the united states of america. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> thirty-four years ago today, we began providing televise access to the everyday workings of congress and the federal government. c-span networks created by american cable companies in 1979 and brought to you as a public service by your television provider. >> on this tuesday the u.s. senate is about to gavel in for
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the day. today they will continue working on the c.r., a bill to keep the federal government offered through september. senators agreed yesterday to cut off debate on the senate democratic version of the bill. as a result, majority leader reid said he is hoping to finish wirk on the bill by days and today. now live coverage. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal spirit, you are god, and all creation worships you. to you all angels, all the powers of heaven sing in endless praise. draw the hearts of our senators to you today so that they will trust you to guide their minds and control their wills. replenish their strength,
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rekindle their enthusiasm for your purposes, and renew their commitment to serve you with all their hearts. whatever they plan or accomplish today, may it bring america closer to the righteousness that exalts any nation and away from the sins that bring reproach to any people. we pray in your holy name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible,
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with liberty and justice for all. mr. reid: mr. president? the speaker pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will resume consideration of the continuing resolution legislation. the senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. today for our weekly caucus meetings. mr. president, we're going to continue to work to see if we can get these amendments that we wanted to vote on last night voted on and complete the c.r. very quickly. i would hope -- and i will come here. i haven't had an opportunity yet to speak to the republican leader this morning, but i'm going to very shortly move to begin work on the budget. senator sessions, senator murray are anxious to move forward on this. i had a long conversation with senator sessions last night.
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i speak to senator murray quite often. and there is no reason the 30 hours postcloture be wasted. a senator that doesn't like what went on before, they can have one hour, but we shouldn't waste our time as we have done so often just killing 30 hours to do nothing. we should start the budget. now, mr. president, people decide that they are going to use all 30 hours and another 30 hours, which we have to have cloture on not only the substitute which we got last night but also the bill itself, 60 hours, that would mean that we would start on the budget sometime thursday morning, and we're going to do that. 60 hours will be sometime thursday morning. i would hope that we wouldn't have to waste that time. we are going to finish the budget before we leave here. we have had conversations on both sides of the aisle about we need a budget. we believe that the budget resolution -- i mean the budget
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deficit reduction act which set our 302-b's, we didn't need to do our usual budget because we had one signed into law by the president, but regardless of that, we're going to -- there will be no more talk about not having a budget. we're going to have a budget. we're going to do that before we leave here for easter. if it takes however long it takes. as you know, under the budget, there is 50 hours. that's statutory. and there could be a lot of amendments afterwards. everyone should be aware, we should start using some of this time to work on the budget. so we will do that, mr. president. i'll come and ask my consent shortly. mr. president, in the late 1920's, there was a violent explosion in new jersey. it was an ammunition depot of our military. basically, it was the navy that time. and it was a very, very bad
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explosion, and so there was a decision made that storing our ammunition should be someplace else. and after some work done by relevant committees in the house and the senate, working with the president, it was decided that the best place to do that would be in nevada near a place called hawthorne. hawthorne is, frankly, in kind of a remote place. that base has been there since about 1930. it was originally a naval ammunition depot where most of our ammunition was stored. it's still there. it survived the base closing, the brac work, and it was determined it was essential for the security of this nation. if you fly over that, you will see miles and miles of bunkers where ammunition is stored there. some ammunition is stored there from world war ii.
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it's a wonderful place for storing ammunition because it's so dry. and so you can have stuff there for long periods of time. i just met with the chairman of the joint chiefs. they are very impressed with this. it's also become a -- really a terrific place for tearing down ordnance. demil, they call it. in recent years, it's been used as a training facility. the terrain is much like the desert in afghanistan, iraq, places like that. we have had training exercises there for some time. very valuable. mr. president, late last night, seven of our marines were killed in hawthorne, and many others were injured in an explosion during a training exercise near the ammunition depot in hawthorne, nevada. we don't know exactly what happened, but it was a violent explosion, we know that.
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my thoughts are with those who are injured and of course the families of those who lost loved ones. and marines all over the world are now focusing on the loss of their fellow marines. they are grieving this loss. details are emerging. we really don't know. the area has been blocked off. as i indicated, it was quite a big explosion. we'll follow this news very closely. i will do whatever i can going forward to support the united states military and the families of the fallen marines. mr. president, it's very important we continue training our military, so important. but one of the things in sequester is we cut back in training and maintenance. that's the way sequester was written. now, the bill that's on the floor we hope to pass today
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helps that a little bit, at least in the next six months, it allows the military some degree of ability to move things around a little bit. flexibility, we call it, and that's good. but we have to be very vigilant. this sequester should go away. we have cut already huge amounts of money in deficit reduction. it's just not appropriate, mr. president, that our military can't train and do the maintenance necessary. these men and women o'-- men and women, our marines were training there in hawthorne. with this sequester, it's going to cut back. i just hope everyone understands the sacrifices made by our military. they are significant, being away from home, away from families, away from their country. we have to sequester. we need it to go away. the first priority for the
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country and the congress in the last 40 years has been to improve the nation's economy and strengthen the middle class. our efforts have paid off. it's pulled us out of the great recession. are things perfect? no, unemployment is still too high. over the last 36 months, businesses have created 6.4 million jobs. that's good, new jobs. during the bush years, we lost a lot. we lot our treasury. when he took office, we had a surplus of over ten years of $7 trillion. the tenth anniversary of the war in iraq is today. that war cost us more than a trillion dollars. and a loss of life and all the injured that we're paying for in many different ways. we can't take chances with our recovery. we're pulling out of the mess economically that the president
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created by all these taxes unpaid for, the war unpaid for. we must renew investments in the things that have always made america strong -- jobs, education, preventative health care and health care, new roads and bridges, dams, water systems, sewer systems, to meet our country's long-term economic goals, including reducing the deficit, we must enact policies that support a strong and growing middle class. that's why this week the senate will pass, as i have indicated earlier, a budget, crafted by one of the most wise senators ever to serve in this body, patty murray of washington, and wise is the word that i chose perfectly for her because it does fit. the work that she's done and her committee has done fully replaces the harmful sequester i have just talked about with balanced, responsible deficit reduction. the policies outlined in her budget, our budget, will save hundreds of thousands of jobs and safeguard communities by
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keeping police, air traffic controllers, meat inspectors, firefighters on the job. but first we must avoid self-inflicted wounds. then we can build on the successes of the last three years. the senate budget will continue the progress by creating new jobs, repairing crumbling roads, bridges, training workers for high-skilled jobs. these investments are fully paid for by eliminating a trillion dollars worth of loopholes to benefit the wealthiest americans and the most profitable corporations. i had the good fortune, mr. president, to serve in the united states senate with a man -- excuse me. by the name of bill bradley, one of america's great all-time basketball players. i, of course, being this -- always wanting to be the athlete that he was. i have admired him so much and enjoyed my friendship with him. but he came out today, this
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rhodes scholar, this brilliant man, saying we need to eliminate $1 trillion in taxes that are unfair and unnecessary. he said that. in addition to that, mr. president, our budget also makes nearly $1 trillion in responsible spending cuts across the federal budget. meaningful deficit reduction includes shared sacrifice, including contributions from the wealthiest among us. if you own a profitable corporation that shifts jobs to china, mr. president, or to india, democrats in congress can't stop you. go ahead. you can ship them. but we can keep you from getting the tax break for outsourcing, and that's what we want to do. if you're successful enough to own a second home or a yacht, more power to you, that's wonderful. that's an american success story. but democrats in congress do not feel we should subsidize these tax breaks for your vacation
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home or your boat. ending these wasteful giveaways makes sense to most people. as an overwhelming majority of americans, including a majority of republicans, support this balanced approach. in the last two years, we have reduced the deficit by about $2.5 trillion. the senate budget continues this effort without jeopardizing our economic recovery or breaking our promises to seniors and veterans. this budget keeps medicare strong forted's seniors and preserves it for our children and our grandchildren. madam president, -- i'm sorry. mr. president, patty murray is qualified to be budget chair, for a number of reasons, not the least of which she was the chair of the super committee. that is to have 12 members of congress, six republicans, six democrats arrive at a grand bargain. she arrived at that and was pulled back because a week or so
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before they were ready to make their decision, which would have been spending cuts and revenue, we got a letter from virtually every republican saying no thanks, no revenue, so that failed. she is qualified in many different ways to lead this committee. her budget reflects democratic values, and it honors the belief that success doesn't trickle down from the top. it grows out in the middle class. the ryan republican budget introduced earlier this week reflects an entirely different set of priorities, skewed priorities americans have rejected time and time again. this is the third go-around. president obama was re-elected basically for a number of reasons but not the least of which was the ryan republican budget. they are at it again. it would hand out more budget-busting tax breaks for the wealthy and to pay for these wasteful tax breaks. it would end medicare guaranteed. it would rob 50 million americans of everyday affordable health insurance and raise the
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taxes on american families. the ryan republican budget would risk lives and risk recovery, and that's just a price too high. i was stunned this morning, mr. president. a republican congress writes an op-ed piece -- i don't know if it was in the "times" or "the post" but saying the ryan republican budget isn't good enough for the tea party. it should be even more stringent than that. that's what we're faced with here, mr. president. and the work done by chairman murray reflects the priorities of the american people. not the -- that was also referred to on the op-ed page of "the washington post" today by a person who has won a nobel prize for economics. would the chair announce the business of the day. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the
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senate will resume consideration of h.r. 933 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 21, h.r. 933, an act making appropriations for the department of defense, the department of veterans' affairs and other departments and agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2013, and for other purposes.
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mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: is the senate is not in a quorum. mr. mcconnell: last week i noted that the senate democrat budget was one of the most stroim, most -- extreme, most unbalanced pieces of legislation we've ever seen. one that would never balance, ever. and one that would have a devastating outcome on the middle class. i said its centerpiece is a
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$1.5 trillion tax hike, that would be the largest in american history. some other than-on the other side have awrpgd with the $1.5 trillion figure. they say the budget only contains a $1 trillion tax hike which is a stunning and telling admission in itself. just months after democrats got hundreds of billions in new taxes, they now freely admit their intention to hit americans with another trillion dollars in tax hikes, but in reality, it would be more than that since their budget envisions $1.5 trillion in new revenue. while the democrats' math may be fuzzy, their intentions are unmistakable. their tax hike would cost the average middle-class family thousands in lost income and lost opportunity. and despite that massive hit to working families, the democrats' budget would still not ever, ever balance. but that's just one of the
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reasons this budget is so destructive to the middle class. take spending, for example. americans know that a good way to create jobs and increase economic growth is to balance the budget. and put our massive national debt on a path to elimination. yet the senate democratic budget would actually increase spending by more than half a trillion dollars, increase spending by half a trillion dollars. butt putt another way, democrats want to take another half a trillion dollars out of the economy on top of all the money they'd take out with their tax increase and put it into the hands of washington bureaucrats and politicians to spend or waste as they see fit. and their budget would balloon the debt by 42%, increasing every american's share to a whopping $73,000. they want to grow the government at the expense of the economy and that's just not the way to create jobs or get the private sector moving.
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in fact, by some estimates this budget could result in more than 600,000 lost jobs if enacted. and, of course, the democrats' senate budget won't prevent medicare and social security from going bankrupt. won't prevent medicare and social security from going bankrupt. here's what we get with the democrat budget: a massive tax hike and thousands less for middle-class families, massive tax hike. number two, half a trillion dollars more in big-government spending. number three, 42% more debt with each american owing $73,000. and more than 600,000 lost jobs. here's what we won't get: we won't get balance, just more and more unbalanced tax hikes. we won't get the kind of deficit reduction our country needs, just more spending to enrich the washington establishment at the
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expense of main street. we won't get more jobs or a better economy or sensible reforms to prevent medicare or social security from going bankrupt. and we certainly won't get a balanced budget. not only does the senate democrat budget never balance, ever, but top washington democrats now say they simply don't care about balancing the budget anymore. they just don't care about that. well, americans do. a party that once cared about hard-working american families seems to have gone off the leftmost edge of the reservation with this budget. d.c. democrats' priorities are so far removed from the actual needs of middle-class kentuckians and americans who continue to struggle in the obama economy. i appreciate that the senate majority has finally decided to put its ideas on paper. it took four years, four years to get a budget from them and we
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now know why it took so long. because their ideas are just so unbalanced and so extreme, so destructive to the economy, americans want us to fix. we can help foster the conditions necessary to make the economy healthier and create more jobs but only if washington democrats finally reach across the aisle to address america's real concerns in a truly balanced way. i hope that will ultimately happen because it's time to start making divided government work for the american people who elected it. and it's time to grow the economy, not the government. now, mr. president, on another subject, this week president obama will travel to two of our closest allies, israel and jordan. his visit will come at a moment of great importance for each of our governments. i join in conveying a message of
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congratulations to prime minister netanyahu in having formed a new government, no in restraighting -- restating our determination to prevent iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and in pledging to work with israel to meet the regional challenge caused by civil strife in syria. the fighting in syria has produced refugee flows of at least one until million people into iraq, turkey, jordan, and lebanon. also of concern to jordan, israel and other allies in the region is the flow of foreign fighters into syria, especially the alnesra front. during his viflt i hope the president makes progress in working with our allies to address these threats that have developed while bashar al-assad remains in power. and to begin the important planning to address the challenges that will come with his fall, such as how best to
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secure chemical weapon stockpiles. none of these threats or challenges can be addressed with simple, easy answers but i fully support america working with prime minister netanyahu and king abdullah to craft a regional strategy that serves all of our national interests. mr. president, i yield the floor.
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ms. ayotte: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. ayotte: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to discuss something of deep importance to me, and i believe to our country. last night, there -- ms. mikulski: mr. president, not to object, what is the parliamentary situation? are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not in a quorum call. ms. mikulski: are not? the presiding officer: are not. ms. ayotte: thank you. last night, the majority leader of the senate came to the floor and on the continuing resolution, which is essentially the only bill that we will consider this year of
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the funding of our government, it's over a trillion dollars in taxpayer money, came to the floor and brought forward a unanimous consent agreement that only contained a handful of amendments that could be brought to the continuing resolution, and many amendments that were germane and in my view reasonable had been advanced, brought to the attention of both sides well in advance, were denied an opportunity for a vote on the floor. because of that, i objected to the consideration of the continuing resolution, the unanimous consent agreement because frankly, i think when you're spending over a trillion dollars and the only funding bill we're going to vote on essentially, appropriations bill, that we should be allowed to have votes on amendments, particularly amendments as many of my colleagues have had and my own amendment, which is one
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that would strike funding for essentially a missile to nowhere that we will never get a program or a missile program or a product that our military will ever be able to use. and so my amendment was very straightforward. the amendment would strike funding for the medium extended air defense system program called the meads program, by $381 million, these funds were appropriated for this program, and would actually transfer the funds to the operations and maintenance portion of the defense budget so that the money could be used for our men and women in uniform for things that they actually need as opposed to $380 million for a missile to nowhere that we will never get a result for.
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you know, when we are almost $17 trillion in debt, it's truly shocking that we would continue to spend money on a program that the army says it does not want. in fact, the defense authorization last year, the armed services committee actually prohibited funding for the meads program. this is something that was passed unanimously on a bipartisan basis last year in the defense authorization bill that prohibited any further funding for this missile to nowhere. and yet, it got included in this, the appropriations in this continuing resolution despite the fact that we are not going to get anything our war fighters can use from $380 million of spending. in fact, when secretary hagel
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was asked about whether the pentagon would comply with this law, he said yes. let's just review where we are with this program. the army has already invested over $2 billion for this program, and we're not going to get a result. it was underperforming. so according to john mchugh, the secretary of the army, in 2011, he said the army has invested over $2 billion, and that's only the partial cost of the program, and frankly it was underperforming. again, what else has been said? frank kendall, under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics said meads is a program that the u.s. decided not to procure a year ago. so why when our country is facing sequestration, when the men and women in uniform need to make sure that the defense dollars that we are providing them are actually resources that they can use for their needs to
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protect them, to protect our country, are we spending $380 million on something that we will not procure, we will not get a result for? to me, this is outrageous. and if we can't cut spending for this, how are we ever going to deal with the underlying drivers of our debt, with our nearly $17 trillion in debt? in fact, the chairman of the armed services committee, this is what he has said -- "i have great respect for chairman levin, angd he has said about the meads program --" we feel strongly that it is a waste of money." so i stood up on the floor last night because i have bipartisan support for this amendment. this is not a republican issue or a democratic issue. this is about making sure that we don't waste money at a time when our war fighters need the money for the support, the
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training at the time that they are facing sequestration, that we're facing real threats to our country, and we cannot afford to spend more money on a missile to nowhere. and so i'm very proud that i have bipartisan support from senator begich, senator shaheen, yet it's shocking to me that i cannot get a vote. it's germane, that we cannot strike this funding or get a vote on this senate floor to strike this funding from this continuing resolution and to make sure that the funds actually go to the operations and maintenance portion of the defense budget so that they can use this money -- our war fighters can use it for needs that they actually have. i also want to mention that the citizens -- council for the citizens against government waste supports my amendment. the concerned veterans for america, the c.e.o. of the
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concerned veterans for america has said meads is the quintessential pentagon program that lives on indefinitely despite the fact that it will never see the field of battle. with our nation drowning in $16.7 trillion worth of debt, congress must undertake serious reforms to defense spending to maintain a sustainable fiscal path that preserves american power. and the concerned veterans of america has supported this amendment, and basically this is common sense. and this is the kind of thing that people see at home and say how could you possibly spend $380 million on a missile to nowhere when we know that our men and women in uniform can use those funds for equipment that they can use in theater for training that they can use to be prepared, and it's really
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unconscionable that we will not allow a vote on the continuing resolution for something that has bipartisan support, for something that was actually struck by the authorization committee on both sides of the aisle, both in the house armed services committee and in the senate armed services committee. and when the majority leader took to the floor last night, he said oh, we have -- we have made reasonable accommodations. i don't see what's reasonable about giving a handful of amendments with over a trillion dollars of spending. you know, on wednesday, senator mccain brought forth an amendment, and the amendment was last wednesday, so almost a week ago, he brought forth an amendment to strike other unauthorized funds from the continuing resolution and to leave those funds for the military to use for priority items and for things that our men and women in uniform actually needed.
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and you know what happened? there was a motion to table brought against senator mccain's amendment, and essentially what he was trying to do was what i am trying to do today, to stop money that's been -- not been authorized, to stop spending money when our men and women in uniform need us to give -- allow them to use these resources for the basic needs that they have, and that's why he brought this amendment to the floor, and you know what happened? there was a motion to table filed against his amendment, and i think there was a real shock on the floor from both sides of the aisle because on a bipartisan basis, that motion to table failed, because both sides of the aisle realized that when we're facing sequestration, when we are facing a dangerous world, when we owe it to our men and women in uniform, we cannot continue to fund things that aren't priorities. we can't continue to fund
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missiles to nowhere, and that amendment was eventually adopted by a voice vote. this amendment is just like that amendment. the american people are tired of us not allowing commonsense amendments to come to the floor for a vote. i mean, is it -- with a trillion dollars in spending, if we had started voting on amendments last wednesday, after the floor was shut down and i think there was a shock among leadership that senator mccain won his amendment on a bipartisan basis and was able to overturn the motion to table his amendment, if we had started voting on amendments then, we would have already passed the continuing resolution. so it is an absolute cop-out to say that we're somehow faced with a government shutdown, that somehow we can't have votes on the senate floor on amendments that are important, germane and relevant. and before i leave it, i want to support my colleague, jerry
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moran, because he was also denied an amendment that's an important amendment. i'm a cosponsor of that amendment. the f.a.a. has notified 189 towers across the country that it is going to cease to fund the towers' operation because of sequester. and senator moran has a commonsense amendment that would make sure that it restores 95% of this funding by taking money from other areas in the f.a.a. budget that will not disrupt operations. well, there is a tower in nashua, new hampshire, that was on the list of the f.a.a., despite the airport's importance to both the united states and new england, and despite a recent investment of over $24 million by the f.a.a. to upgrade the airport's runway, and senator moran's amendment, which he is also being denied an ability to bring on this floor, to have both sides vote on, he has strong bipartisan support, this amendment would ensure that
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towers like the tower at warfield in nashua, new hampshire, my hometown, continue to operate, yet we will not be given a vote on this senate floor, despite the strong bipartisan support that senator moran has for his amendment, just like i have bipartisan support for my amendment. so i have to ask what's the problem? why can't we just vote on the amendments, start voting, keep voting, get it done. we can pass the continuing resolution. we can continue to fund this government, but you know what? we can make improvements to the continuing resolution by striking money for the missile to nowhere, by making sure that the air towers that the f.a.a. is shutting down continue to operate in this country, and i'm sure that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have many more ideas as to how we can improve this continuing resolution. but the american people will never know about those ideas
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because we're on a senate floor where we are not being allowed to vote, to vote on the amendments that matter to the american people, that strike wasteful spending, that improve this important piece of legislation, and i think if we had started voting last wednesday, we would already have allowed every person in this chamber to have a vote on their amendment, as the senate was intended to operate. this is intended to be the most deliberative body in the world, yet if you can't bring an amendment that is germane to strike spending for a missile to nowhere, it really renders the operation of the united states senate at this point not what the founding fathers. it really -- it puts a gag on the american people, that their elected representatives can't come here and get votes on things that are going to strike
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funding like this, that are going to make sure that air towers continue to operate in this country. and, mr. president, i think we owe it to the american people that their elected representatives can come down here and get a vote on amendments that matter, that make a difference, that can improve this continuing resolution, and frankly this notion that we can't have votes on it, obviously, people don't want to have votes on it. they want to continue funding missiles to nowhere, whether it's their parochial interests or whatever interests that are driving them here. it's wrong. we have to stop it. bring this amendment to the senate floor. let's vote it up or down now, and let's move forward. i thank you, mr. president, for the opportunity to speak today, and i yield the floor.
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ms. ayotte: i note the absence of a quorum. thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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quorum call:
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a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: i would ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: mr. president, we were looking today, originally, to begin the presentation of the budget that came out of the budget committee produced by the democratic majority. it did pass on a party-line vote. it was drafted by the majority in secret, and it was produced and brought to the floor. mr. president, i see the distinguished floor manager of the bill that's on the floor today. i certainly have no intention of interrupting your debate but was using the opportunity to speak in morning business if that's all right, senator mikulski.
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so -- so under the budget law, we need to produce a budget by april 15, there's 50 hours allowed for debate and a virtually unlimited ability to offer amendments to that most important document. that's where we are, and i had hoped we'd start today. now it looks like we have floor disputes and things are dragging out, but i just want to say how this can be handled. if the floor debate does not shorten, i would suggest we could come back the week of the 8th and complete our work by april 15 easily, and that that would be my suggested way to deal with the most important issue that we face as a nation, and that's the financial future, the debt course that
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we're on. that would the right thing. if the majority is -- the majority leader is determined to move forward even into the weekend, we'll be here, and we're not going to concede any of the time that's set aside for the debate because this is the first budget that's been to the floor of the united states senate in almost 1,500 days, over 1,400 days, four years, and we need to talk about where we are, where we are going as a nation. so i just want to say there will be no yielding of time on this side with regard to the opportunity to discuss the financial future of america. and the american people need to know about it. and it should be done publicly. and they need to to know the choices that we're dealing with, how tough they are, but what opportunity we have to get the country on a sound path without doing damage to the
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programs that we value in america. we need an open process and the american people need to be engaged with it. but i have to say it is absolutely been the policy of the majority in the united states senate to do just the opposite. senator reid has said it would be foolish to have a budget. he's held to that view for four years now. the law requires us to have a budget by april 15. he's refused to do so because he did not want to be responsible for laying out a financial path for america. that's just the fact. and now the house passed legislation that said no budget, no pay. and now the senate's moving forward with a budget. at least to get it out of the senate and pass it through the senate and presumably then we'll get paid. so it's important that the
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budget be moved, but it should be not a pro forma act but a very serious evaluation of where we are. i want to say this to my colleagues as we confront the difficult choices of our country country -- this is so important to me. i believe based on a series of important studies in recent months, all of which come to the same conclusion, that the debt level that the united states has today is already pulling down economic growth. it is one of the reasons, maybe even the largest reason, that we've had such little economic growth. our debt to g.d.p. as the -- the gross debt to g.d.p. is over 100%. according to the rogoff reinhart
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study that's been out there for a yum of years that was widely praised that secretary of treasury geithner told us was a very important study and maybe underestimated the risk our nation faces, has universally been praised. they say when debt exceeds 90% of g.d.p. based on their study of economies all around the world that have gotten into financial trouble, that results in a 1%, maybe 2% drop in growth. and the growth of 1% or lack of growth of 1% is a million jobs in america. so the difference between 2% growth and 3% growth is a million jobs. the difference in 2% growth and 4% growth is two million jobs. people unemployed, not getting work. why? because of the debt overhang that's out there for a whole lot
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of factors that are too complex for to us discuss at this moment but are out there that begins to pull down growth. and so one of the reasons that we need to contain the growth in deficits in america and balance the budget is to create growth, create jobs, and create prosperity, whereas my democratic colleagues contend that the way to create jobs and create growth is to borrow more money and spend it with a stimulus package. and, in fact, they've got another stimulus package in the bill that they passed in -- out of the budget committee. another tax -- another borrow-and-spend plan, $100 billion plus. so this is a big difference in where we are. we can't keep borrowing to spend
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to create some temporary sugar high. it all rubs off in the end. okay? so these are the studies that are out there. i mentioned rogoff and reinhart. that's been out several years and been a topic of great discussion throughout the entire economic community of the world. but in recent months, the international monetary fund, certainly not controlled by republican -- frugal republicans, the european central bank and the bank for international settlements all have independently done studies, and those studies say that debt begins to slow growth. that's what they conclude. that debt slows growth. now, if that's true, we have got a problem, because they -- they say you can carry a certain amount of debt. it does not slow growth, but if
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your debt reaches 90% of your economy, at least rogue after and reinhart and -- rogoff and reinhart and the numbers they use. they were using gross debt, it's absolutely clear in their papers, not the private debt, gross debt, then you have economic growth slowing. let's take a minute to discuss growth and public debt. the public debt is external debt of the united states and it's about 76% of our economy. the size of our public debt amounts to almost the size of the economy, 3/4 of it. but the -- if you take the gross debt of the united states, including borrowing from social security and medicare and stuff like that, it's over 100%. what i want to say to you is people have misinterpreted over the last several years the
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rogoff-reinhart study. they have concluded the debt figure they were referring to was the public debt, but the $16 trillion that you see on the clocks that show how it's increasing every year, the $16 trillion, almost $17 trillion now in debt, that's the gross debt, and it is over 100% of the economy. and they say growth slows. every time, relentlessly it slows when you as a nation run up too much debt and you get that high. and so the international monetary fund, the european central bank, the bank of settlements, those come at it with slightly different, but if you use their numbers and the way they come at it independently using a different approach, they all conclude that when you reach debt levels as high as we have in the united states, growth slows, jobs are lost when growth slows.
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tax revenue is lost when growth slows. people are not going to pay taxes if they're not working. businesses are not making -- who are not making profits are not going to pay taxes. if they are not expanding, not growing, not investing, not hiring, the economy is hampered and the tax revenue to the federal government is less, as a matter of fact. but most importantly, people aren't working, jobs aren't being created, and more people are on welfare, more people are being dependent on the government, on employment insurance. that's not good. well, we are making some progress. yes, we are making some progress. the economy virtually had no growth the fourth quarter of last year. a stunning development. they're predicting a slow growth the first quarter of this year. last year, well below
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predictions. last year, our growth, i believe, was about 2.2%. two years before that, the congressional budget office predicted growth for last year would be around 4%. they were predicting two years ago that growth for 2013 would be over 4%. maybe 4.6%. and that's what the prediction was, but now as we enter 2013, it looks like we will be lucky to get much over 2% growth. and i'm not saying i know for an absolute certainty that the debt is the factor they haven't considered when they calculate our growth from this recession. i don't know for sure, but i'm telling you rogoff, reinhart, the international monetary fund, the european central bank, the bank of settlements, all of those have concluded that when you have debt as high as we have in the united states, it will
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slow growth. so i would say what should we do to get america on a sound path to increase growth at a time we are discussing the budget, it is to balance the budget, to put us on a course to reduce the percentage of debt significantly now. and if we get that back down, which we can do, we will see more growth. we'll see more jobs. the idea that we keep borrowing from the future to spend today to create growth only have to be said to understand how bogus it is, how irresponsible it is. why don't we borrow three times as much and spend three times as much if this puts us on a sound financial path. it doesn't. it weakens us. the congressional budget office,
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the congressional budget office when this congress, although not with my vote, voted $870 billion for the stimulus package, said yes, if you borrow from the future $870 billion and you spend it today, you'll get an economic growth for a few years, but quickly it goes away. the money has been spent. the little lift in the economy is over. what's left then? you're carrying another $870 billion plus interest, now you're at a trillion dollars in new debt that you have to pay interest on every year, and the growth benefit is long gone. they scored -- hear this, colleagues. back in -- when the president took office and he pushed through the stimulus package, they said over ten-year period, you will have less growth if you
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have a stimulus package than if you don't have a stimulus package. did you hear that, my colleagues? that's so important for us to understand, that you can't get something from nothing. nothing comes from nothing. nothing ever could, julie andrews sang in "the sound of music." nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could. so you borrow the money and you spend it today, and it's always with you unless you have a plan to pay down the debt, and we have no plan. so already we are about at the point where all the benefits of that stimulus just three years ago is gone, and we are beginning to have the burden of carrying the debt indefinitely. i think the american people understand that. the people who don't understand that are the paul krugmans and the people who have been driving the agenda in the united states senate and this congress to borrow and spend.
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we have got to get our head together on that subject. finally, i would just point out that this budget that's been produced is totally promoted improperly. it claims -- the budget came out of the committee. it claims to reduce the deficit by $1.85 trillion. but that's not accurate. it took me a long time, and i had to stay on the staff people for the democratic majority, but eventually when confronted with the facts, they had to tell the truth and told the truth that the sequester cuts, that 60% of the budget control act we agreed to just 18, 20 months ago is wiped out. those cuts are eliminated. but can you believe it? they are really not cuts. they were a reduction in the
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growth of spending. that reduction that saved us about $2.1 trillion and the sequester part is $1.2 trillion, that is why -- the $1.2 trillion is wiped out. so that means we're going to increase spending $1.2 trillion, and it's not scored in their budget as an increase in spending. to offset the trillion dollars in tax increases that they have got. when you consider all of that, you will find that this budget and other bogus gimmicks that are included in it does not reduce the deficit at all. at best, maybe $200 billion, $300 billion. over ten years, that amounts to about $30 billion or maybe no -- really, in fact, my analysis is it has no deficit reduction, zero. but a fair looking at it based
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on the testimony of their -- the witnesses in the budget committee that it would be $30 billion or $40 billion in deficit reduction a year when last year our deficit was $1.2 trillion. so this budget plan increases taxes, it increases spending over our current rate and it does nothing to change the debt course of america. we need a plan that can balance the budget. we can do that and still increase spending every year. it will balance in ten years if we stay disciplined, but that's not the plan that's on the floor, and our colleagues need to study it and do not need to be voting for a plan that makes no change in our debt course, that does not create quote but simply borrows more. i thank -- i see my colleague, the democratic whip, i will call
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him, and would appreciate the opportunity to share these remarks and would yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i thank my friend from alabama for yielding. i have 13 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent these requests be agreed to and be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: mr. president, earlier today, my colleague from new hampshire, senator ayotte, came to the floor and spoke about the median air defense system known as meads. this is a program that the united states has been developing for air defense with our nato allies, so u.s. taxpayers are truly investing in this program, but our allies are as well. now, i'm new to this assignment as chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, and i don't take any pleasure in what i'm about to say, but it's
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a fact. i think we have got to put the facts out before the american people. as we started developing this system, we reached the point where we concluded, the department of defense concluded that it wouldn't work. that happens. some of the greatest ideas turn out not to be feasible, and that is where we are at this point. the question that has been raised by senator ayotte is well, if it doesn't work, why do you want to finish the research on it this year? it's a legitimate question, and the vast majority of americans would say of course she is right, don't spend another penny on it. the problem is this -- we entered into an agreement with our allies that if we terminated the program, if we terminated the program,t penalties
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if we just terminated it at this moment. so we tried to make the best of a very bad situation. the department of defense appropriations act for 2013 includes $380 million, a reduction of $20 million from the original request, for the department to bring an orderly close to the medium air defense system by either completing the development program or paying the termination. this is a nato program, as i said, that we jointly developed with germans and italians. all of us thought this was a good idea and a good investment. it wasn't until we got into it that we realized it wasn't going to do what we said it would do. the department determined it would not procure meads but has requested funds for the final year to conclude development of the program and live up to the agreement with these countries, our allies, who have also put money into this. the department plans to use the advance technology that we did develop here to upgrade other systems, so it's not a complete
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waste, and it shouldn't be because the taxpayers have their tax dollars on the line. i share the frustration of many of my colleagues that we have spent so much money and so many years and have reached this point, but i will tell you we don't want to build a system that doesn't work. we don't want to create false security, and we do want some honesty from those who are developing the systems if, in fact, something that we have spent money on is not going to reach its completion. the cost to finish the development of this program is almost exactly the same as the cost to unilaterally terminate it, a point not made by the senator from new hampshire. she argues about all the savings from these programs in terminating it but doesn't talk about the termination costs we are liable for as a result of that termination. it is just unrealistic to psalm psalm -- assume that you can terminate a major defense program with our allies and walk away without some obligation. for example, when the army's future combat systems program was terminated, the department was legally obligated to pay
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over $500 million in termination liability. in return, we received several technologies that were incorporated into other programs. the same applies to meads, but only if we fulfill our obligations and pay the termination liability. the be request defense appropriation bill is fiscally responsible by providing the funding to the army to bring this program to an orderly close instead of levying another bill on the department in times of fiscal constraint. i urge my colleagues if the ayotte amendment does come to the floor to oppose it, not because i am asking them to vote for a program which we're in agreement is never going to reach the goal that it was setting out to reach, but rather let's be honest about this, we're going to pay this money one way or the other. the army has said give us the option to complete the program or pay the terms fee. that to me is a more reasonable approach. i ask for disoint enter after my statement in the record statements and letters from a variety of different sources
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including the department of defense on this program. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, almost a year and a half ago i sent the government accountability office a letter asking them to examine the f.d.a., food and drug administration, adverse event reporting system for dietary supplements. dietary supplements are common across america. vitamin pills, mineral pills bills pills, there are shops all over chicago and downstate yilg illinois selling these supplements and many people including myself take a vitamin each day, maybe it's good for me, maybe it isn't, i hope it's good, it's certainly not harmful. but there are thousands and thousands of dietary supplements for sale. they're not all made in the united states and they're not all made to the highest specifications. so we said to the food and drug administration we want you to collect information from american consumers if there's a problem. if there's a dietary supplement that's being sold and someone
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has an adverse event, in other words, a health event that could be serious, report it to the f.d.a. if we receive more than one, it's worth taking a look at to see if there's a pattern emerging and we should take something off the shelf. today the general accountability office released a report assessing how the system is working on this adverse event reporting on dietary supplements. and they had some recommendations. this reporting system is an important surveillance tool the f.d.a. uses to identify and respond to cases of serious adverse reaction such as heart attacks, hospitalizations, in some cases, death. over the years, the types of dietary supplements sold has evolved from some very basic formulas like simple vitamin c and calcium supplements to include products with potentially serious side effects and even foods and beverages mask trading -- masquerading as dietary supplements that could pose a significant danger.
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look at the energy drinks drinks for sale everywhere, try to get past the gas register without rung into a five-hour energy drink or monster energy drink and for some of them when you turn the container to the back it's not sold as a beverage, it's being sold as a dietary supplement. in other words, like a vitamin or a mineral. there's a reason for that. because if it's sold as a beverage, there are some strict regulations on the amount of caffeine that can be included. for a dietary supplement, the regulations not there, at least not the same way they would be for beverages. people are led to believe these products have been approved by the f.d.a. and pose no risk. in reality, unlike drugs, or over-the-counterdrugs, dietary supplements are not reviewed and tested by the f.d.a. for safety or effectiveness before being sold to the american public. that will come as a surprise to at a lot of people. most dietary supplements today
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are safe and they're used by millions of americans as part of their personal choice for a healthy lifestyle. that's not true of all supplements. in 2002, a 16-year-old boy named sean riggins from lincoln, illinois a few miles away from my home in springfield died, the 16-year-old boy died after taking a dietary supplement taking a drug known as ephedra. sean was a high school football player. before playing in the game he went to the local gas station and bought something called yellow jackets. it was a form of ephedra marketed to children to give them an energy boost. how often do you hear that? sean washed the pills down with a bottle of mountain dew. sean was unable to finish the football game that day and died of a heart attack. before his death, metabalife claimed they had no ephedra-related adverse events to report. this is 2002. under pressure, they later gave
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f.d.a. over 13,000 ephedra-related adverse reant reports that showed people taking their products with ephedra and getting sick. in 2006 i worked with senators orrin hatch and tom harkin to pass the dietary supplement and nonprescription drug consumer protection act. the law requires dietary supplement manufacturers to report serious adverse events to the food and drug administration. today's g.a.o. reports since the law was enacted serious adverse events reported to the f.d.a. have increased dramatically from 400 reports of serious events in 2007 to 6,000 thiew 307 between 2008 and 2011. it highlights commendable efforts to improve the safety of dietary supplements. in 2008 there were only 120 inspections in the united states. by 2012 that number was up to
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400 inspections. between 2008 and 2011, f.d.a. took 19 regulatory actions including warning letters, injunctions against companies that didn't report as required like reporting serious adverse events but omitting contact information on their labels. that's pretty basic, isn't it? when you buy a product you ought to at least know who made it and how you contact the people who made it. if something goes wrong, you need to contact something someone. that basic information should be there. in addition to outlining steps, the f.d.a. has strengthened the adverse event consume earler, the g.a.o. suggests ways to eu78 proffer -- to improve the approximate. but the agency can do more and develop ways to educate consumers about potentially harmful products. the g.a.o. report encourages the f.d.a. to issue final guidance
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clarifying the definition of a conventional food and dietary supplement. the vague distinction between a dietary supplement and conventional food or beverage has created a murky, growing market where some companies sell products potentially dangerous with unapproved ingredients like lazy cakes, a brownie marketed as a dietary supplement, not as a cookie, but as a dietary supplement that contains roughly eight milligrams of the sleep aid melatonin, almost double the upper limit of a typical dose. and energy drinks sold in 16, 24, and 32-ounce cans next to soda and gaitdor aid. -- gatorade. the report urges the fort hood to work with the poison control ?erpts to establish a debt sharing agreement. this is a source of real frustration. when i describe the situation, you'll understand why.
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as you can imagine when somebody feels sick after using a supplement, they don't usually call the food and drug administration. they call the local hospital or the poison groal control centers which are all across america. between 2008 and 2010, poison control centers heard from a thousand more people who had experienced adverse events with dietary supplements than the f.d.a. did. the poison control centers information could be a meaningful contribution to the information the f.d.a. is receiving about harmful products, information that can help protect american consumers. i encourage the food and drug administration and poison control centers to work together to share this information. they are now, sadly, the poison control center is demanding millions and millions of dollars that the f.d.a. doesn't have just to get access to the basic information about dangerous products sold in america that are causing harm to americans. holding back this information is
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not in the best interests of keeping america healthy and safe. moving forward i'll continue to work with the f.d.a. tony hans the regulation of dietary supplements and ensure customers have the information they need to make informed decisions. every time i come to floor to talk about diet 25er supplements, some web site is saying durbin is going to take your vitamins away, you'll need a prescription to take vitamin c. not the case at all. let me tell you what my bill would do. it addresses the growing concern of dietary supplements with misleading information and the bad actors selling them. this bill would require more information on labels. people using dietary supplements have the right to know if there's a risk associated with the product. some ingredients may be safe for the general population but risky for groups like kids or pregnant women. or the ingredients included in
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there might be dangerous for people with special conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure. the bill would curb the growing practice of foods and beverages with added ingredients masquerading as dietary supplements by directing the f.d.a. to establish a definition for conventional foods. this definition would clarify for industry, consumers and even the f.d.a. which products are foods and which are dietary supplements. today you just can't tell. if you got the time and good eyes, go into that gas station and take a look at some of these energy drinks and then look at the bottle of soda next to it in the case. one is regulated on contents of caffeine. the other, the dietary supplement, virtually unregulated. many people would be surprised to learn that the f.d.a. doesn't even know how many dietary supplements are being sold in the united states. i'll bet you a majority of the american people are just sure that their government is testing those things that are on the
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shelves. not necessarily. most people don't know if a dietary supplement ingredient presents any serious health concerns. the f.d.a. doesn't have the information incidentally to track down products containing these harmful ingredients in many circumstances. the dietary supplement labeling act which i'm introducing would require dietary supplement makers to give the f.d.a. the name of each supplement they produce along with a description, a list of ingredients, and a copy of the label. is that onerous? is that the heavy hand of government? if wasn't to sell a dietary supplement product in america, isn't it reasonable that you at least register the product, the name of it, its ingredients, the name and address of the company that can be reached if something goes wrong? that to me sounds very basic. and i hope that my colleagues will consider supporting it. with that information the f.d.a. would be better equipped to protect consumers' health health and work with supplement manufacturers to address
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problems as they arise. mr. president, i visited dietary supplement companies in chicago. i'm impressed. they take it seriously. it looks as you hope it will look like a very sterile, professional environment with medical professionals on board. the same cannot be said of all the things we're importing from all over the world. if you look and see where the product was made in china, you may have some second thoughts about buying it or giving it to your children. we've had some scandals associated with adulterated constructs from china. i would pause if that was the source of a dietary supplement. i'd have more confidence if it's made in the united states particularly by a reputable dealer i've seen on the shelves of a drugstore over and over again. let me reiterate. most dietary supplements available in america today are safe and are used by millions of americans as part of a healthy lifestyle. as i said, i am one of the consumers taking that dietary supplement multivitamin every
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morning. but the g.a.o. report confirms that there is still work to be done to enhance the tad f.d.a.'s adverse event reporting system and ensure people who take these products have the information they need to make healthy, informed decisions. mr. president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: i'm back to the senate floor with my favorite chart, one that i think is indicative of the fiscal dysfunction that is occurring here in congress, particularly in the senate, now marking 1,420 days without a budget. but people should be encouraged that as a result of the house passing a no budget, no pay bill, it's finally prompted our friends across the aisle to mark up a budget in the budget committee and it will come to the floor here in the next few
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days and we'll be having a lot of important discussions and swaits debates about budgets, taxes, and debt ratios. but i hope everyone remembers what this is really about. it's not just about numbers. it's about our obligation, our moral obligation to future generations of americans. and i would just footnote that the president in a recent interview said that we don't have an immediate debt problem, and to say that, mr. president, the debt is discouraging and retarding economic growth which we need in order to get americans back to work, and that's why unemployment at 8% roughly with some 23 million americans either out of work or underemployed working part time when they'd like to work full time is a national tragedy and why we need to get our fiscal
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house in order here so we can put america back to work and grow our economy and opportunity. like many in this chamber, my father was a member of what we called the greatest generation. i think tom brokaw coined that phrase, talking about the world war ii generation that fought and won a world war. my dad was a b-17 pilot, and on his 26th bombing mission over manheim, germany, was shot down and captured as a prisoner of war. well, thank goodness, after four months, he was -- he was released from captivity, thanks to general patton and his army sweeping through that part of germany at the end of world war ii. but my father and others like him fought to ensure that his children and his grandchildren would grow up in a country that had a greater opportunity than
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he himself and my mother had when they were alive. and indeed that is every parent's dream, that their children and their grandchildren would enjoy more opportunity, more freedom, a higher standard of living than they themselves had, which is the reason why parents and grandparents sacrifice and why they work hard for their kids and grandkids because of their hope and their belief in that dream. and as a result, my dad and my mother and countless other members of the greatest generation left this country better off than they found it. the question for all of us today is will the present generation do the same? i certainly hope so. i'm doing everything i know how to do as one senator to make sure we do.
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as a parent, i want nothing but the best for my two daughters. my wife and i want and hope and pray for the best for them. as an american, i want to see every child, everyone's sons and daughters succeed and prosper. but right now, we have in effect a war being waged against america's youth, and i know some might consider that hyperbole or perhaps unnecessarily inflammatory, but let me explain to you why i do believe that you could logically conclude we have a war waging against america's youth. consider the following. our national debt is close to $17 trillion. that means every child born in
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america today comes into this world owing $53,000 in debt. meanwhile, the federal government is spending more than $200 billion a year on interest payments alone. the medicare hospital insurance trust fund, medicare is projected to go bankrupt within 11 years. and we're looking at more than $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. that is promises that we have made to future generations for which we have no clue how we're going to currently pay for those. that's what unfunded liabilities mean. and we know that the younger generation has virtually no hope that medicare and social security will be there for them when they retire unless we act, and we must act.
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but rather than reform and protect our existing programs like medicare and social security, the president chose in his first year in office to create yet a new entitlement program funded by a trillion-dollar tax increase. of course, we all know it goes by the name of obamacare, or if you prefer, the affordable care act, which i think if you look at it, history will ultimately lead us to conclude that it was unaffordable. not the affordable care act but the unaffordable care act. one impact of obamacare is that young people under the age of 40 are going to have to pay higher and higher health insurance premiums. and you might ask how is that possible since they are the healthiest? people in america today. well, this is a phenomenon known
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as age banding, which says under obamacare that seniors can pay no more than three times what young, healthy people pay for their health insurance, but it's no secret that older americans incur higher medical expenses by virtue of their advancing years, and yet they can only pay three times what young, healthy people pay for health insurance. well, that will lead to much higher premiums for young people in america. indeed, one recent survey found that premium costs for young and healthy americans will increase by an average of 169%. now, i have no way of knowing whether that prediction will be entirely accurate, but i can promise you that health insurance premiums for young, healthy americans will continue to rise under the current law known as obamacare. such a dramatic rise in health
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insurance premiums will come at a time when young workers and middle-class families are already struggling to make ends meet. after all, the median household income in america has fallen by more than $2,400 since june, 2009. in other words, average households in america are not just treading water, maintaining their place, they are losing, they are taking on water, and they are $2,400 poorer today than they were in june, 2009. not only will obamacare drive up insurance premiums for younger americans, it also is destroying jobs. in fact, we already have evidence that many full-time jobs are being reduced to part-time jobs in preparation for obamacare's costs and
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regulations. in particular, many places where young people get a start in their work life, working in restaurants, working in hotels, working for retailers, those very same employers are now replacing full-time jobs with part-time jobs in order to avoid the crushing costs of obamacare. and so this will hurt younger americans more than anyone else. and then there is this -- while unemployment is generally speaking about 7.9%, the congressional budget office expects it to go up to 8% by the end of this year, fewer and fewer people are still looking for jobs. it's called the labor participation rate. you can go online and look at the bureau of labor statistics, and they will show you that the number of people looking for work as a percentage of the population is as low as it's
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been for 30 years. so not only are people having a hard time finding full-time work , if they can find work at all, some have simply given up. a new study shows that americans in their 20's and 30's -- or i should say the unemployment rate among teenagers is over 25% now, and a new study shows that americans in their 20's and 30's are accumulating savings at a much slower rate than their parents did. and what we find among many young americans and not so young americans is they are living off of their 401-k or their retirement savings now at unprecedented rates. i just ask my colleagues is this really the future we want to leave our children and grandchildren? will this leave them better off than we were or will it leave them worse off?
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i know that no one in this chamber and no american in this country wants to leave their children and grandchildren worse off than they are -- than they are, and that's why we have to do everything we can to reverse the federal overreach of the past four years and to boost economic opportunity with policies that will promote fiscal health, strong job creation and upward mobility. in other words, we need to embrace policies that expand our economy and not government. we don't need people more dependent on government. we need more people independent and prospering on their own because we have a growing economy that provides opportunity for them to work, to save and to support their families and deliver to their children and grandchildren greater prosperity than they inherited from their parents.
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that's the future that americans want, and that's the future we must strive to deliver. mr. president, i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: without
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objection, so ordered. a senator: mr. president, i rise today to discuss -- the presiding officer: the senator from missouri is recognized. mr. blunt: i thank the president. i rise today, mr. president, to discuss an amendment that has been filed by my friend, senator moran, that i am proud to be a supporter of. this amendment would stop the federal aviation administration from targeting air traffic control towers across the country, including the towers that are considered to be in the contract tower program under sequestration. as i have said before on this floor and will continue to say, many of these problems will be resolved, i'm convinced, if the appropriations committee does its work, and that work is recognized and debated on the floor, and hopefully we're not having this same kind of discussion october 1 when we begin the new spending year, but the impact of sequestering
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cutting from this account is real. senator moran's amendment is important. it's something that the communities served by these towers could be impacted by, and this amendment tries to be sure that these communities aren't impacted. in our state, there are contract towers in missouri and branson and joplin, in columbia, in jefferson city and st. joseph, all those could be affected depending on how the f.a.a. administers this cut in the contract tower line. a number of other airports in missouri, including springfield, downtown kansas city and downtown st. louis, could lose their towers in the after midnight service, and those planes that now land there after midnight would either not do that or would do that without the support of the tower that
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they have now that assists in landing. this amendment of senator moran's would protect those towers as well as the federally funded portion of 16 cost-share towers, which also could be closed at the end of this -- this fiscal year. specifically, this amendment takes $50 million from one place in the f.a.a. -- in fact, it's $50 million in research and capital funds that is money that could easily be set aside for this short period of time so that these towers don't close, and then senator moran would add $50 million in the federal aviation administration operations account. it makes it clear -- the amendment makes it clear that
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the contract tower program and contract tower cost-sharing programs are subject to the 5% sequestration cuts, but again would add -- would transfer enough money within accounts that there should be money to keep these important towers open in missouri and kansas and maryland, in alaska, in every state and many states, almost every state has something that would be impacted by this contract tower. this $50 million would be more than 95% of the estimated money necessary to be sure that the contact -- contract tower program and the cost share program would stay in place. if you're using one of these airports, if you've got both a ticket to travel out of one of these airports, if you're a general aviation customer at one of these airports, the tower is
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one of the things that you have expected your tax dollars to be spent on and what senator moran is trying to do is to find a way to do that other that still allows sequestration to occur, that keeps the spending below the spending cap and the law, and it really is exactly in sync with the spirit of the law as well as the letter of the law. it just tries to solve a problem. you know, i'd like to solve this problem with -- in another way by just saying that federal funds and employees who are involved in public safety have to be prioritized as people that would show up. and we're going to move forward with that particular view legislatively if we can't get it added to this -- this spending bill that gets us from now till the end of the year. and, again, mr. president, it's my hope that we -- that we're not talking next year
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about how we get to the end of the year because we figure out how to get to the end of the year at the beginning of the year. that doesn't sound like an incredible goal for the senate to have, but in a senate that hasn't voted on a single appropriations bill for 16 months, updating the spending in 70% of the spending, five of the 12 bills, five of the bills that spend 70% of the money in this -- added to this continuing resolution, i think is in the spirit of what our new chairman wants to do, what our new ranking member wants to do, and what the senate should want to do, which is let's deal with these things in the regular way, let's debate spending in the regular way. i would very much like to see senator moran's amendment included in what we're doing today, and just as importantly, i want to work
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with senator moran as we look toward october 1, these kinds of issues don't have to become a regular part of our process but are the kinds of things that we'll look back and say remember when we failed to do our job the regular way and all the problem that created, let's get back to regular order and i would yield. ms. mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: before the senator from missouri leaves the fluoride just like to comment. first of all, i personally would like to thank him for all of his cooperation in trying to help move this bill forward within senate. it is characteristic of both him and the spirit in which vice chairman shelby and i are undertaking that we really try to work together to get this bill disposed of in an orderly way to avoid a government shutdown. it is not the bill we like, but
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it is the bill that is presented to us. and at the same time, to begin to establish both a tone, a decorum, and a process that we can get to regular order. i share the senator from missouri's frustration that we are dealing with a really big bill. it is -- this legislation pending here is all 12 of the separate appropriations bills. it is very difficult to parse them out, to have rational conversations on matters of policy. so i would hope that this time next year we would not -- or at the end -- that by the -- as we get to the fiscal year, october 1, which is our fiscal new year's eve, we will have had an orderly disposal of all 12 of the bills. and i truly believe if we can
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agree on process and procedure, then we can have the debate on policy. there should be a debate on policy. there should be a debate on funding. i am not one who likes to contain debate or to contain amendments, but the clock is ticking. we have two big issues before us. one, the funding for the rest of the fiscal year for fiscal 2013 and then we have the budget for fiscal 2014 that senator murray and senator sessions wants to bring. i would like if we could bring our bill to an orderly close and move to the budget debate so that when we take our easter-passover break, we would show the people of america we could govern, first of all, dispose of two major policy considerations and that we would have done it with decorum, with dignity, with civility, and pretty robust conversation.
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mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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